GOD is good….All the time

  GOD is so good.  He’s always good.  That is something that He has especially been showing me lately.  Not so much from experience but in the Word.  He is ALWAYS good, even when it doesn’t look like it.  Like today I was reading in Judges that GOD was angry with Isreal.  I can’t humanly put that together that GOD can be angry but still be in character…but He can.  He is always all of who He is.  Even when He’s angry He is loving.  Kind of mind boggling.

  But while I’m on the topic of GOD and how good He is, I have a story to share.  I share this because this is a glimpse of my amazing GOD.  I knew I would need to gas up on Friday.  I had no money.  Pretty much zero.  In my flesh I was trying to figure out how to work the situation out so that I wouldn’t need to gas up.  GOD has proven Himself faithful in this way before but I was still worried about it and was attempting to take it into my own hands.  One by one the ways I  could think up to work out the situation didn’t work out.  So I was reading in Judges and had come to the story of Gideon.  Even as I read I was having a hard time focussing.  I knew that I would need to leave in a few hours and that there was still no gas in the car.  But as I read a verse stood out.  The angel was talking to Gideon and Gideon was all talking about how he was nothing and the angel said "Go in the strength you have….the Lord is with you."  (not direct quote) I took that as a promise from GOD that He was going to provide, I just needed to trust.  So I surrendered it to Him and said, okay GOD, whatever you want to do with this that’s okay.  I realized that I was a little nervous that His plan would be having me run out of gas along the way, end up on the side of the road looking like an idiot.  But then I realized that even if that happened GOD could use that situation.  But even after that, there was a little nagging worry and thought given to that situation.  Well, I had scarcely finished reading about Gideon when my mom called down to tell me my aunt was on the phone to talk to me.  Well, she called to ask me how many hours I had tutored my cousin, settled on a figure higher than I would have, then told me to come by that day to pick up a cheque.  I tutored my cousin in MAY!  I knew that she was planning on paying me but was wondering when it was going to happen.  Not sure if she forgot or what (I personally think it was the hand of GOD).  I had thought a few times when cash was tight that GOD might remind her…but I hadn’t even thought of it this time.  What a great GOD!  Only a GOD such as mine would bring me to the point of need again and again and then supply in another unexpected way!  Only my GOD would remind my aunt of the unpaid wage and then not only remind her on the exact day I needed the money but also that she would pay me that same day even though it has been 4 months since she said she would.  What a great GOD I serve!   

Soaking Time

  I just returned from a ladies retreat.  It was such a blessing and encouragement!  I was not sure earlier this week wether I would go or not, seeing as I’m at the school in the mornings and this evening we have our youth kickoff.  But I had a desire to go, simply to be among women for a couple days.  I spend a lot of time with people but mostly in a position of giving, rarely just to soak in.  So I looked forward to the privilege of soaking in.  And that’s exactly what I was able to do this weekend, to soak in fellowship.  Several times during the retreat I was nudged to do something, for example, introduce myself to someone, or sit at a certain table, and each time I was blessed.  Sometimes that blessing was just listening to and enjoying being with older Christian ladies without adding anything to the conversation.  I had the privilege of meeting many wonderful people and being encouraged by stories and portraits of GOD’s grace.

Awesome Stuff!

  Praise the LORD!  We had the first GIFT since the absence of Unquenchable.  Excellent.  Excellent.  Very different from what it was last year in several respects.  There were people who came who have never come and there were some who could have been there that were not.  For me it has been a great last couple weeks working with new musicians on the music front and just spending time with them.  The team that played on Friday night is really young.  John (15) on drums, Brandon (15) electric guitar, Josh (15) bass, Zach (15) acoustic and background vocals, Melissa (15) lead vocals, and me (21) piano and background vocals.  High energy kids who are passionate about GOD.  The most rewarding part of it all is seeing that their view of GOD is expanding through this experience.  Yes, they have a lot of growing to do but it is SO encouraging to see them pursuing Him now.  On the musical level, it was exciting to see the progress from our first practice up til GIFT.  They have a lot of potential.  Because they are such young musicians they just need a little guidance and direction.  With that, who knows where they will end up! 

  The speaker I had tried to contact was unable to speak so I spoke on the purpose of GIFT, which is 1. make GOD famous and 2. worship Him based on Psalm 29:2 "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness."  If you want to read the full message drop me a note and I’ll forward that to you. 

  In organizing GIFT and partnering with GOD in this ministry I am looking for people who would like to partner with me in prayer.  If you are willing to commit to being on the prayer support team, let me know.  Drop me an e-mail: debz_eic@hotmail.com  As requests come up I will pass those on and keep you up to date about times, speakers and all of that.  Much of that will be posted on this site anyway, but it would mean a lot to me to know that you are committed to praying for this ministry. 

  This is GOD’s ministry.  I’m amazed how He has opened the doors and placed the pieces together so perfectly.  I am excited to see what all He will do and how He will declare Himself through GIFT as we faithfully step forward.

Praise and Excitement!

 Praise the LORD!  It’s amazing how GOD works things together as we step forward in faith in the will of GOD.  I’ve really seen this as I’ve been planning for GIFT.  A major praise item is that the church where we have been meeting since January has consented to partner with us by allowing us to continue meeting in their church without charge even though there is no one involved on a leadership level from their congregation.  They have been incredibly accomodating, allowing us to practice there at almost any time.  So that’s a HUGE praise! 

  Another praise is in regards to the group of musicians that will be playing and singing on September 9.  We had our first practice together on Thursday.  It’s a praise simply that they all were there.  Wednesday night around 9:30 I had to make some quick calls to get the drummer there WITH drums!  That was a little scary.  But as I did that I reminded myself…this is GOD’s work and He will enable it to work out.  And it did.  Everyone showed up relatively on time.  I was actually one of the last to show up.  So praise for that.

  Another praise is how well the kids caught on with each other.  There is definitely growth to be done on the part of everyone present, including myself, but we have never played together as a group.  All of us have played with others in public in some way shape or form so it isn’t a completely new thing but working with new musicians is always different.  Both Clem and I were impressed.  They played better than we expected them to.  (Clem was the drummer last year and is also the youth leader that I co-lead with.)  He was there for the first practice to kind of do sound and observe.  I greatly appreciated his presence.  He was able to help some of them in ways I couldn’t, namely the drummer, and he also noticed things that I couldn’t and wouldn’t about improvements that some of the musicians can make or things they are doing well. 

  To focus our time we started by looking at Psalm 29, especially verse 2, "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness."  Within this verse is the entire purpose of GIFT.  1. To make GOD famous and 2. to worship Him.

   Since then, actually, just this evening, Clem and myself met to discuss youth coming up this year.  I’m starting to look forward to it more and more.  There are a lot of other things that require time and energy but we’re looking at the possibilities of introducing student leaders, getting some of the graduates from last year to get involved and take on leadership within the youth group.  That thought has not been fully developed but I would love to see leaders born and grow.  There are few things more rewarding then seeing young people become leaders in their generation.  We also briefly talked about topics to discuss and that kind of thing.  Because we are in the middle of a generation wave, one has gone out, another is coming in, it will be interesting to see what transpires in our youth group as far as who will show up and what their attitudes will be.  This is an area that could use much prayer, among many others.  We covet your prayers as we step forward on another year of adventure.  We confirmed our tentative date of having a kickoff on September 17.  This is not exclusive to our youth group but just one big youth party type thing to get teens together and excited about the year.  So mark your calenders and lift that date to the throne of grace as well.  Thank you.  

First Week as Miss Friesen

  Wow, I feel like there is so much to say from this past week!  I’ll start with my time filling in as a teacher’s aid this week.  It has been such an encouragement.  I’m enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.  (Don’t worry Laura, I don’t want to do this long term!  6 weeks will be perfect!)  The first day was a little interesting b/c I had very little idea of what to expect and because there are three grade levels within the class I found myself in charge of a group of kids with little prep.  It’s not a high level of academics so for that reason it’s not hard.  Having been there for four days now it’s getting more comfortable.  I’m learning more what is expected from the students and from myself.  Really it’s a lesson in servanthood.  My job is to make Elisabeth’s job (the teacher I am aiding) as easy as possible.  That means being as aware as possible of what is most needful of being done and little details that I could do while she is doing other things…like…teaching.  It’s interesting for me to be in a more behind the scenes role.  At least, that’s my ‘job description’.  Somehow ‘behind the scenes’ doesn’t seem to describe me or the positions that the LORD places me in but it’s a privilege to not be placed up front and centre but to look for the little jobs like running to the store to by creamer for the staff room  (Oh, that is funny.  One of the spelling words today was ‘buy’ and I just typed ‘by’.  Wow…maybe *I* need to go back to grade 4.), or emptying the dehumidifyer.  On Wednesday Elisabeth approached me and asked me if I would like to do the devotions in the morning.  What a privilege!  Now, that is where my heart is.  Math is fun and I love English but that’s nothing compared to discussing the Word of GOD and speaking into young lives about how great our GOD is.  What we are doing is reading from a kid’s devotional book (Keys for Kids type thing), which also includes a scripture passage.  Then there is some discussion followed by a time of prayer.  Now, this is the cool part.  What Elisabeth has done and started this year, which I am continuing b/c it’s so great, is each child is given the opportunity to pray.  We just go down the rows and if a child doesn’t want to pray they say pass.  Now, this is really interesting.  First of all, only one or two pass.  Secondly, we don’t give a time for prayer requests but they come out as the kids pray.  It is such a great part of the day to hear these young voices sincerely praying to the LORD, sometimes saying things that are quite profound.  

  Another privilege I have is spending 15 minutes a day in the grades 6-8 room supervising them while they eat so that they don’t go outside and stay in their desks (gotta love elementary!).  But it’s such a great time.  I get to just hang out with a group of…however many kids.  The first three days we played games like ‘hangman’ and ‘heads up seven up.’  Today we just chit chatted.  It’s a great opporunity to build relationships 

  Another blessing has been spending time with the lady staff members in the staff room during my break.  It’s so good to have that comaraderie.  For the most part I don’t work with people and have never really worked on that level in a Christian environment so that is also a privilege. 

  So praise the LORD for how faithful He has been.  He has given me strength to get up in the morning and spend some minutes with Him.  He has also been gracious to prepare me and use me during the devotional time and He has caused and is causing in me a servants heart, which is far from natural.  And the kids are great!